Saturday, January 16, 2016

A Bunny and Some Flowers

Two things: I did two things today, and they were both ridiculously photogenic. I haven't taken this many pictures in a long time.

Second thing first, which was meeting the kitten my friends got their kids for Christmas. This kitten is so ridiculously cute, and fluffy, it just about killed me! Check my purse when I leave that house. It took serious willpower to leave.

See?

She was completely relaxed and friendly with us, not nervous or even cautious. Just, oh, you want to cuddle me? Fine.

Her favorite toy is this koala, which she alternates grooming and kicking. If it survives, it will be funny to see pictures of her with it in a year, two years, etcetera. She walks around with it now and almost trips over it.

And the blue eyes slay me.

She's basically a cotton ball, with grey tips.

And this is bigger than she was! She's about three months old, but they said she's grown just in the few weeks they've had her. I don't know anything about ragdolls, but if she's a sample, I like them.

Earlier in the day, I met up with friends to check out a greenhouse, not the one at Wellesley College where I first went six years ago (and have visited often since), but another one, in Waltham, that I read about recently. It's at the Lyman Estate, and we spent an enjoyable hour looking around. Especially considering the weather, cold and rainy (even some ... ahem, more solid rain that fell), the color and growth was so welcome.

They had quite a lot of little citrus trees in one area, like this calamondin orange, as well as key limes and meyer lemons.

Fun architectural details.

And a fun structure for a climbing plant to inhabit.

This one looks like the flower is sticking its tongue out.

I love how the petals on this one curled up.

The color of this one, like the best sunset clouds.

Just, color.

Color!

This plant is a clivia, in the lily family and relative to amaryllis, and I just love how it looks like a book being opened to show a surprise at the center.

In the process of opening.

Open.

More blown, still lovely.

Some kind of giant onion? with a climbing vine coming out?

Pineapple!

The verdict: It was very enjoyable, and a large section of the greenhouses had plants for sale, so if you're frustrated by wanting to take things home from a greenhouse visit, this would be a good one. I don't believe it's quite as large as the one at Wellesley, but more of a drawback to me is that it was not as warm inside. I never even wanted to take off my coat! And the warmth is one of the attractions for me. So, although I'm not at all sorry to have gone, I would probably pick Wellesley next time instead.

In conclusion, and unrelated to any of this, I keep forgetting, and then remembering again, that Monday is a holiday. This is a very good feeling.